Download hate hurts - The American Muslim

ISLAMOPHOBIA &
AMERICAN-MUSLIMS
Real or imagined?
Compiled by:
Gulten Ilhan and Sheila Musaji
It’s REAL to some.
The British Runnymede Trust described Islamophobia in
1997
• as the view that Islam has no values
in common with other cultures; is
inferior to the West; is a violent
political ideology rather than a
religion; that its criticisms of the West
have no substance; and that
discriminatory practices against
Muslims are justified
INTRODUCTION
What Is the Image of Islam & Muslims?
• Where does this image come from?
• Where does this image lead?
• What can we do about this.
What is the Image of
Islam and Muslims in
the U.S.?
Could most Americans identify this photo?
• American Muslim soldiers praying at Camp Taji in Iraq
According to Polls
Americans Believe American Muslims …
• 57% … should undergo more intensive security checks at airports.
(Gallup)
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52% … are not respectful of women. (Gallup)
44% … are too extreme in their religious beliefs. (Gallup)
40% … are not respectful of other religions (Gallup)
39% … should be required to carry a special ID (Gallup)
34% … are sympathetic to al-Qaida (Gallup)
33% … religion – Islam - stokes violence (Wa. Post/ABC News)
27% … should be required to register their location with Fed. Govt.
(Cornell)
• 26% … Mosques should be monitored by law enforcement
agencies (Cornell)
• 22% … should be profiled as potential threats. (Cornell)
• 46% … of Americans have a negative view of Islam (Wa. Post/ABC News)
• 40% … would be less likely to patronize Muslim owned businesses
(Zogby)
Where does this image
come from? …
• The actions of some Muslims
• Not differentiating between Islam and Muslims
• Media and popular stereotypes
• People who should know better
…TELEVISION
… COMIC BOOKS
… CARTOON FILMS
For example: SONG LYRICS
from ALADDIN:
"Oh, I come from a land,
From a faraway place,
Where the caravan
camels roam. Where
they cut off your ear if
they don't like your
face. It's barbaric, but,
hey, its home."
1993
… CARTOONS
… Movies
… BOOKS
… One-sided news reports –
negative emphasized, positive ignored
One-sided news reports – double standards
• Robert Cottage arrested for possession of largest
amount of chemical explosives ever found in Britain. 104-06
• Demetrius Crocker of Tennessee, who told undercover
FBI agents of his desire to explode a briefcase bomb
while Congress was in session. 4-06.
• In all the fuss about the Dubai ports deal did you ever
hear that another Dubai company already runs 12 U.S.
ports – and a Chinese company runs port terminals on
West Coast?
• Has anyone heard about Robert Goldstein, a Florida
podiatrist who was caught in the act with 30 explosive
devices, 40 weapons, and a list of Muslim targets in his
hands. He had planned to start his killing spree at a
Muslim school near his Seminole, Florida home.
One-sided news reports –
what happened next?
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Brandon Mayfield - cleared
Capt. James Yee - cleared
3 men accused in Walmart ‘Cellphone’ case - cleared
2 brothers in Britain - released with no charges
Newspaper apologizes for false Iran badge story
Webmaster al-Hussayen - cleared
Indian inquiry clears Muslims of 2002 train fire
Sami Hammoudeh - acquitted
Sami al-Arian - acquitted
Dr. Bassem Hussein - acquitted
Muslim charity Interpal - cleared
Salman Hamdani cleared – actually a hero of 9/11
Etc. etc. etc
… Distorted View of American
Identity
America is different. We have no king but
Jesus. John Ashcroft
“This is a religious war, not against Islam but
for Christianity, for a Christian nation.” Ann Coulter
Those who believe the Judeo-Christian values
are better qualified to govern America than
Hindus and Muslims. Rev. Pat Robertson
… Prejudiced RHETORIC by:
• Media personalities
• Government leaders
& political figures
• Religious leaders
The man on the street
WHAT ARE YOU MOST
LIKELY TO LEARN
ABOUT ISLAM,
MUSLIMS AND ARABS
FROM THESE
SOURCES?
American Muslims are …
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Dirty, have poor hygiene
Not loyal, a 5th column in the U.S.
Silent, don’t speak out against terrorism
Breed like rabbits
Violent
Intolerant of other religions
Ragheads Sen. Conrad Burns
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Not really human Michael Savage
Preoccupied with sex
Afraid of work that ‘dirties’ their hands
Pigs and murderous scum
• Incapable of being moderate
• Worse than Nazis
Pat Robertson
Oliver North
ISLAM IS …
• The enemy
• Repelled by modernity
• A worthless, dangerous Satanic
religion
• A cancer that destroys the body it
infects
• A murderous organization
• A car burning cult
• At best false, at worst bloody &
dangerous
“If Western civilization is to survive,
Islam must be destroyed.”
“Islam must be eradicated because it
cannot be reformed.”
The Qur’an is …
“Strictly a theft of Jewish theology.”
Rev. Pat
Robertson
The source of Islamic terrorism.
according to a speaker
sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Comparable to Hitler’s Mein Kampf and
teaches Muslims to lie.
The prophet of Islam is …
A demon-possessed pedophile
The Rev. Jerry Vines
A wild eyed fanatic and a killer
Rev. Pat Robertson
A terrorist
Rev. Jerry Falwell
Therefore …
“A virulent hatred of Muslims is not
racism because people have a CHOICE
TO BE MUSLIM and nobody is a
member of a race by choice”.
“They Have forfeited their right to be
accepted as loyal citizens”
What should ‘we’ do about ‘them’
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Don’t allow them to have holidays honored by public schools
Don’t allow the call to prayers from mosques
Stop printing the Eid holiday postage stamp
Make them carry special I.D. cards
Profile them
Have Muslims only check in lines at airports
Don’t allow conversion to Islam
Put them in internment camps
Ban Islam and deport Muslims
Invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to
Christianity
• Kill the Muslims – The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim
SOUNDS CRAZY – BUT LOOK
AT JUST A FEW OF THE
‘RESPECTABLE’ AND
INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE WHO
HAVE MADE SUCH
STATEMENTS
RESPECTED LEADERS IN
THE GOVERNMENT,
MILITARY, AND POLITICAL
LIFE
S. Carolina Board of Education member
Dr. Henry Jordan
"Screw the Buddhists and kill the
Muslims."
“… the religion of Islam is a "cult" that
worships "Lucifer."
North Carolina State Legislator
Sam Ellis
"I don't want the students in the university
system to be required to study this evil.“
Referring to college assignment to read the Qur’an
Representative
Peter King (R-NY)
“No American Muslim leaders are
cooperating in the war on terror.
"80-85% of mosques in this country are
controlled by Islamic fundamentalists.”
Representative
Frank Lasee
Islam is NOT a religion of peace.
Islam IS a religion intent on
conquering the world … this is a
central theme in the Koran.”
Attorney General of the U.S.
John Ashcroft
• "Islam is a religion in
which God requires
you to send your son
to die for him.
Christianity is a faith
in which God sends
his son to die for you."
General
William Boykin
Representative
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
• “Arrest every Muslim that comes across
the state line.”
Congressman
Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
• “If a terrorist attack were to occur in the
USA by Muslim extremists then our
response could be to bomb Mecca.”
• “you cannot integrate some people into
your society.”
U.S. Civil Rights Commission
Peter Kirsanow
“I can foresee a scenario in which the public
would demand internment camps for Arab
Americans …
If there's a future terrorist attack in America
… you can forget about civil rights.''
30th annual Conservative Political Action
Conference in Washington, D.C.
anti-Islam paraphernalia being sold at a right-wing conference kicked
off by Vice President Cheney.
MEDIA PUNDITS,
CELEBRETIES &
PERSONALITIES
Media pundits & celebrities …
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Ann Coulter
Sean Hannity
Michael Savage
Glenn Beck
Daniel Pipes
Jackie Mason
Media pundits & celebrities …
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Neal Boortz
Oliver North
Bill O’Reilly
Imus in the Morning
show
• Laura Ingraham
• Dr. Laura
Schlessinger
Paul Weyrich et al
• “Would our country have
issued a swastika flag
stamp in 1941? Would our
country have issued a
hammer and sickle stamp
in 1955?”
Saddest of all
RELIGIOUS LEADERS
AND
REPRESENTATIVES
OF FAITH
COMMUNITIES
Signs at Churches
Signs at Churches
Clergymen & religious leaders
“Muslims are worse than Nazis.”
“Islam is a violent religion.”
"Islam is essentially a Christian heresy“
“Muhammad Was a Terrorist.”
Clergymen & religious leaders
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Rev. John Hagee
Rev. Pat Robertson
Rev. Jerry Falwell
Rev. David Clippard
Lord Carey
Rev. J. Grant Swank
Rev. Franklin Graham
POP CULTURE THE MAN IN THE
STREET
Bumper stickers
Billboards …
Tee shirts …
• That’s Allah Folks!
Boeing ad
Showing
Helicopter
attacking a
Mosque
Restaurant sign
Blogs …
• The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim
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http://wizbangblog.com/2005/10/26/the-only-dead-muslim-is-a-good-muslim.php
http://waronjihad.org/muslims151005.html
http://www.catch.com/comments/44025_0_17_0_C/
http://bbayne.com/2006/09/a-lott-of-sand-n-s/
http://www.familyfriendsfirearms.com/forum/showthread.php?p=547444
This seems to be a popular idea and turns up many times
There are thousands of anti-Muslim
blogs and sites online
• Here are a few images taken from these
blogs …
…
• Text says: How things would be if Islam had to
obey truth in advertising laws.
INCIDENTS
The rhetoric is becoming
increasingly more violent
…
And now we are seeing the
result …
One of these on a tee-shirt could
keep you from boarding a plane
• ‫שלום‬
• शान्ति
• Мир
• Pace
• ‫سالم‬
• Peace
Arabic writing on Tee-shirt
keeps man from boarding plane
"You can't wear a T-shirt with Arabic
script and come to an airport. It is like
wearing a T-shirt that reads 'I am a
robber' and going to a bank," was the
security man's statement.
One of these prayers could keep
you from boarding a plane
PRAYING WHILE MUSLIM
• Passengers refused to fly on a plane until
‘Asians’ were removed.
• A Muslim doctor was put off a plane because
other passengers were alarmed to see him
quietly praying in his seat. August 2006
• 5 Muslim men were detained and questioned
for praying at Giants Stadium in New York. November
2005
• 6 Imams were removed from a plane because
passengers had seen them praying and
speaking in Arabic before boarding. November 2006
Mosque vandalism in Ballwin, MO
Second Shooting at Florida
Mosque
• On the first day of Ramadan, an unknown
gunman shot into the crowded mosque in
Brevard, Florida.
October 2006
Muslim school vandalism
U.S. Mosque Incidents …
• U.S. mosques are becoming dangerous places.
There have been:
• 11 threats
• 51 vandalisms
• 1 cross burning
• 2 vehicles driven into mosque
• 1 bomb plot and 5 bombings
• 2 assaults
• 6 shootings
• 7 arsons
Being a Muslim student is not safe
• UCLA TASER Incident
Wearing this peace of cloth could
get you KILLED
• Religious hate seen as motive in
killing
A mother of six was killed Thursday by a
single bullet to the head as she walked
with her 3-year-old daughter on a wellto-do residential street in Fremont,
California.
Being mistaken for a Muslim could
get you KILLED
• Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Mesa, Arizona gas
station owner was shot to death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balbir_Singh_Sodhi
•WHAT DO YOU
KNOW ABOUT
AMERICAN
MUSLIMS?
American Muslims …
Vote
run for office
dialogue
CONTRIBUTE IN LOTS OF WAYS …
SERVE THE NATION
• Muslim military
members at White
House Iftaar dinner in
2006
• Muslim military
members participate in
commemoration of 9/11
SERVE THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITIES
•
Keith Ellison - Congressman MN
•
Yaphett el-Amin – State Rep. MO
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Mohamed Khairullah – Mayor Prospect
Park NJ
Saqib Ali – State Rep. MD
M.J. Khan – Houston City Council TX
Malik ibn Noel, Navy’s 1st Muslim
Chaplain
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Zakia Mahasa, Circuit Court Judge MD
Omar T. Mohammadi, NY Civil Rights Commission
Shirin Tahir-Kheli, 1st American Muslim
Woman Ambassador
Shahram Hashemi a Hero of 9/11
ENRICH OUR LIVES …
• Fazlur Khan, Architect
of Sears Towers,
Chicago
• Ismael Merchant,
filmaker
• Emad Al-Turk Co-founder
International Museum of
Muslim Cultures, Mississippi
• Mustapha al-Akkad
filmaker
• Dr. Edward
Zarhounim, head Nat’l
Instit. For Health
• Bijan, fashion
designer
• Iman, fashion model
Inspire us …
• Anousheh Ansari, 1st Muslim woman in
space - 2006
PARTICIPATE IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Touch our hearts …
Daniel Moore
Poet
Mohamed Zakaria
Calligrapher
Coleman Barks
Poet
Peter Sanders, photographer
Muslims Voices Against Extremism
& Terrorism
• Muslim voices have been loud and clear –
they are simply not heard or ignored.
Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, chairman of the Sunna and
Sira Council, Qatar
Islam, the religion of tolerance, holds
the human soul in high esteem, and
considers the attack against innocent
human beings a grave sin, this is
backed by the Qur’anic verse which
reads: ‘Who so ever kills a human
being [as punishment] for [crimes]
other than manslaughter or [sowing]
corruption in the earth, it shall be as
if he has killed all mankind, and who
so ever saves the life of one, it shall
be as if he had saved the life of all
mankind’ (Al-Ma’idah:32)."
Khamene’i, Ayatollah Ali,
Supreme jurist-ruler of Iran
** “Killing of people, in any
place and with any kind of
weapons, including atomic
bombs, long-range missiles,
biological or chemical
weapons, passenger or war
planes, carried out by any
organization, country or
individuals is condemned
…”**
Leader of al-Muhajirun, a radical Islamist movement
Shaykh Omar Bakri
Condemned 9/11 attack. “If
Islamists did it—and most
likely it is Islamists, because
of the nature of what
happened—then they have
fully misunderstood the
teachings of Islam. ... Even
the most radical of us have
condemned this. I am
always considered to be a
radical in the Islamic world
and even I condemn it.”
The Grand Sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque,
Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi
Condemned suicide
bombings against
Israeli civilians and
condemned terrorism in
all its forms.
• Does Islamophobia
exist?
• Is there anything we
can do about it?
Pastor Martin Niemoller
Elie Wiesel
• “Unless we safeguard the liberties of all
our citizens, the Pledge of
Allegiance and the Declaration of
Independence mean about as much as a
plastic flag bumper sticker.”
Declaration of Independence
“that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”
July 4, 1776
Margaret Mead
• “Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it’s the only thing that
ever has.”
EDUCATE
THANK YOU FOR COMING
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Religions and Peace in Turkey
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